


Bobby and Ella

by Merlocked18



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Art, Dogs, Flirting, Fluff, M/M, Underground, meet cute, west highland terrier AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2017-10-02
Packaged: 2019-01-08 05:17:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12247764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merlocked18/pseuds/Merlocked18
Summary: Merlin and Arthur's meet cute with terriers.





	Bobby and Ella

**Author's Note:**

> The inspiration for this fluffy story came a few days ago, reading the main national newspaper. Based on real life events, but slightly modified to fit my fic needs. Plus, I always adored Greyfriars Bobby and the story about love and loyalty, so I named one of the dogs Bobby, for that reason. I really enjoy drawing dogs, so this was completely self-serving in that regard as well. Also, I would like to dedicate this to a person who recently wrote an amazing m/m wolf/man shifter novel. This person also brought me to the merlin fandom, and I love him for it.

 

_The little pup was licking Pete’s face in recognition. Pete’s heart swelled in his chest. He needed to find his mate, to tell him the good news. He had found their baby, unharmed and well._

 

Merlin sat on the underground, immersed in typing on his smartphone when he felt a sharp tug on his jeans leg. He looked down and was surprised to see a small westie dog donning a blue scarf.

 

“What on earth...?”

 

The dog looked at Merlin with his dark expressive eyes. Merlin looked around at the people in the carriage, but no one seemed invested in what the dog was doing. The people just carried on reading their newspapers or books and staring blankly into space. Waiting for the train to start moving.  _Right_.

 

“Where’s your owner, little doggie?” Merlin asked, grabbing the lead that was attached to the blue collar of the dog. Merlin looked around again. “Excuse me, whose dog is this?” he asked in a loud voice, but his fellow passengers just shrugged, some grunted and some obviously pretended not to hear him, probably relieved he was dealing with the stray so they didn't have to.

 

Merlin looked for a phone number on the collar. The dog was now interested in Merlin’s shoelaces and was pulling at them with his sharp little teeth. There was no phone number, of course. There was just a name - _Bobby_.

 

“So, your name is Bobby, huh?” The little dog lifted its head and looked at Merlin, no doubt recognising his own name. “Bobby, where is your owner?” Bobby tilted his head first one way then the other, as if he was trying to communicate the information by telepathy.

 

Merlin pocketed his phone, the shifter novel clearly had to wait. He shifted his backpack to the side and lifted little Bobby up into his lap. Bobby licked Merlin’s face, which tickled and made Merlin giggle.

 

What a cutie, Merlin thought. He couldn’t just leave the dog roaming the underground without its owner, could he?

 

“What am I going to do with you?”

 

Bobby barked once, nuzzling Merlin’s neck as if he belonged there.

 

“I suppose I will just have to go to Lost and Found with you, huh?” Bobby gave an affirmative-sounding yip and began sniffing Merlin’s jacket.

 

Merlin would get off at Waterloo, which was a few stops away. There was bound to be someone there who could help him find the owner of the cute little terrier.

 

Merlin held on to little Bobby, making sure the little rascal wouldn’t run off again. People exited and people entered, no one seemed to be looking for a little West Highland White Terrier. Bobby pushed his little snout into Merlin’s jacket pocket, scenting his opened bag of crisps, trying to get at them.

 

“No, Bobby, way too salty for you, alright?” Merlin wondered how long Bobby had gone without food. He looked clean and cared for. Bobby must have just recently run off. Hopefully, he had been fed, too.

 

The doors closed; the train started rolling away from the station, and then Merlin saw him on the platform, a gorgeous blond guy with a chiselled to-die-for face, holding a little white westie with a red scarf, very similar to the one little Bobby had tied around his little neck. Merlin saw the anxious look on the man’s face and knew he was the owner. The train proceeded to roll into the tunnel,  away from the station. Merlin got up, waved and knocked on the window, to no avail. It was too late, the train left the station.

 

“Oh, crap, Bobby,” Merlin stated as he sat back down. “Just saw your owner on the platform back there, we need to go and find him, alright?”

 

Bobby gave a little yip and wagged his tail enthusiastically, as if he understood everything Merlin was saying.

 

“I wish you could tell me his phone number, pet,” Merlin murmured, and if it was for more than one reason, Merlin wasn’t to blame. Blond, chiselled-faced adoni were exactly his type after all. The man was beautiful, and Merlin really wanted his number.

 

“We have to go back and find him, Bobs.”

 

Merlin was quite adamant about that.

 

***

 

Finally back at Embankment Merlin walked over to the platform where he'd last seen the blond man, but the man wasn’t there. He must have gone to Lost & Found, probably desperate to find his little runaway, poor guy. Merlin felt for him.

 

If Merlin had lost something this precious, he’d have cried.

 

Merlin could only hope the man and his dog were still around somewhere. Merlin couldn’t wait to bring him the good news of the beloved pet.

 

He took the escalators to street level. In the brisk light of day, Merlin saw him, sitting on the steps to the underground. When the gorgeous blond saw Merlin carrying little Bobby his face lit up, and so did Merlin’s.

 

He had found him!

 

      

The little doggies seemed to recognise each other and Merlin had a job holding on to the little bundle. He hurried his steps. The man stood up, holding his other dog.

 

“Look! It’s your daddy, Bobby!”

 

Bobby barked happily, wiggling in Merlin’s hold.

 

The blond man was still smiling when Merlin and Bobby reached him.

 

“Hi!” Merlin exclaimed, a sense of contentment flooding his system, _He had made it!_

 

“Is this your little Bobby?” Merlin asked a little out of breath, so utterly relieved he had found the owner finally.

 

The blond man’s face fell. It was like watching the moon and the stars only to see them fall in rapid succession.

 

“Oh, no, “ the man sighed and sat back down.

 

“What?” Merlin asked and held on to little Bobby more tightly.

 

“I thought…,” the man began, stroking the little, wiggling  terrier.

 

Merlin looked at the dogs.

 

“What?”

 

“I thought little Ella here was yours,” he said sadly.

 

Merlin was confused for a moment, but then it dawned on him.

 

“They are _both_ runaways?”

 

The gorgeous man nodded bleakly.

 

“We have to find their owner,” Merlin said, looking around desperately.

 

This was appalling. The little doggies needed to get back home. He stared at the gorgeous man, imploring him to come up with a plan.

 

“I already notified the station manager. They will listen out for any missing dogs reports,” the man said, trying to calm Merlin with a tender tone, but soon it was followed by a reprimanding:.

“There isn’t a phone number on their collars. Some people shouldn’t have pets, that is so...thoughtless!“

 

Merlin wholeheartedly agreed, but didn’t voice his opinion, because maybe the owner wasn’t at fault. One should never judge without knowing the facts first, a lesson instilled into him by his mother.

 

“I left them my number,” the blond went on, frustrated.

 

“Good,” they will get back to us, I mean _you_ , if they hear anything.”

 

Merlin blushed when it sunk in what pronoun he’d used, ‘us’. It wasn’t as if the blond man and he were going to hang out forever, was it? It wasn’t like they were a shifter couple with pups, dear lord.

 

“We will...they will be found, uhm...what is your name, by the way?” Merlin asked, getting a bit flustered referring to the man as the ‘gorgeous man’ in his head.

 

“I’m Arthur.”

 

Merlin put Bobby on the ground and Arthur did the same with Ella, making sure the leads were firmly in hand. The dogs yipped and skipped around each other happily.

 

“Someone is happy,” Merlin said, looking at the dogs fondly. Arthur smiled and extended his free hand.

 

“Hi,” he said, and Merlin, who was holding Bobby's lead with his right hand, awkwardly gave his left hand for Arthur to shake. To a by-stander it must have looked like a couple holding hands. For some reason Merlin didn’t want to let go. "I'm Merlin."

 

“What a situation, eh, Merlin?” Arthur said. Merlin hummed and nodded.

 

“Don’t worry, I am not going to ditch you with these two,” he said looking meaningfully at their clasped hands.

A passer-by, an old lady, looked at them fondly.

 

“Oh, sorry!” Merlin said and let go of Arthur’s hand. He could feel his face burning. They weren’t a couple out with their little cute doggies either, for christ’s sake.

 

Bobby and Ella continued jumping around excitedly, a little bit like Merlin’s heart, if truth be told.

 

“Considering they are with complete strangers, they seem oddly content, don’t they?” Arthur observed, “very trusting”.

 

“Well, I am not an axe murderer, Arthur, I think dogs can sense that, don’t you?”

 

“Yeah, I am a lawyer, so I think you’re right.”

 

Merlin looked at the casual clothes Arthur was wearing.

 

“Don’t I look like a lawyer, Merlin?”

 

Merlin blushed for the umpteenth time. The gorgeous man, _Arthur!_ , was teasing him.

 

“Thank god it was on a Saturday this happened, otherwise I wouldn’t have had time for this, at all,” Arthur said.

 

“I am glad you took care of Ella, I don’t even want to think about what might have happened to these two adventure-seekers if we hadn’t grabbed them,” Merlin crouched down and petted the dogs. He had always loved animals, not that he’d ever had any. His mum working double-shifts to make ends meet, there had never been any means to afford having pets. Merlin wanted a dog, but his meagre little flat wasn’t a place he’d keep a pet in. It would border on animal cruelty to be cooped up in that flat all day long while Merlin was locked away, writing in his study.

 

“No one on the train station seemed to care about little Ella,” Arthur muttered and knelt down to pet the little cutie.

“Someone must be missing you guys, terribly,” he continued. Merlin’s heart was complete mush. Arthur obviously loved dogs.

 

Arthur scoffed then. Merlin looked at him.

 

“How can anyone lose a dog, and _two_ , to boot? I really hope there isn’t a third one out there either.”

 

Merlin hadn’t even thought of that.

“Oh, god, you really think there is?”

 

“I wouldn’t put it past them, at this stage,” Arthur grumped, standing back up, looking around to find the culprit. Merlin followed suit.

 

The little dogs sat down, exhausted from the excitement of their reunion. They looked around wonderingly.

 

“Hope the owner is alright. Accidents can happen, Arthur. We don’t know what’s happened. Let’s not judge before we know all the details, hmm? Like you said, no one could leave these guys on purpose.”

 

Arthur grunted but nodded all the same.

 

“You are right, Merlin. I am just saying, I would have _made sure_ these guys were safe.”

 

“They are adorable, aren’t they?” Merlin leant back down again, to scratch Bobby behind his ear. Petting the dogs was like a drug, once you started, there just wasn’t any stopping it. Bobby nipped at his fingers with his sharp teeth, but proceeded to lick them instead. Merlin giggled. “You little shifter, you,” Merlin cooed.

 

“ _Shifter_ , Merlin?”

 

“You wouldn’t understand,” Merlin shook his head, his face blooming.

 

“Try me,” Arthur said, winking at him.

 

Merlin was too flustered at the prospect of being flirted at by Arthur, who apparently knew what a shifter was, too,  to know what was coming out of his mouth next:

 

“If we can’t find the owner, maybe we could adopt them?” Merlin closed his mouth, appalled at his verbal diarrhoea, but looking up at Arthur made his heart skip a beat. A soppy fondness was plastered all over Arthur’s face. Arthur wasn’t looking at the dogs either, he was gazing straight at Merlin.

 

Merlin averted his eyes and tied his shoelaces that Bobby had managed to pull loose earlier. Thank god for small reprieves. He could tie really slowly, too.

 

“Do they get visitation rights?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Yeah, what if Ella wants to come visit Bobby sometime?”

 

Merlin stopped tying his shoelaces.

 

“I think that can be arranged,” he responded, his heart beating a million times a minute.

 

“MY BABIES!”

 

Merlin and Arthur turned toward the frantic bellow.

 

A blond woman carrying a huge dog basket was steaming toward them, she toppled in her high heel shoes and shrieked. Bobby and Ella tore at their leads and were gone.

 

“Ella!” Arthur shouted and they sprinted after the little dogs.

 

The dog basket flew, barely missing Ella and Bobby, and Merlin thought his heart would stop at the sight.

 

“Bobby!” he screamed, and Arthur reached the dogs just as they jumped onto the lady now lying on the ground.

 

“My babies, you are all right?!”

 

Bobby, Ella and the lady were making a tableau of flailing arms and legs and wild hair and a flurry of fluffy dog.

 

Merlin and Arthur watched that for a moment, until the flailing calmed. They helped the obvious owner up into a sitting position. The dogs climbed onto her lap. She gathered the little "fluff balls" or "babies", as she called them, into her arms.

 

“You don’t know how worried I was for my babies, but they are both all right! Thank you so much for taking care of them. Thank you!”

 

She beckoned Merlin and Arthur to crouch down and pulled them both into a hug and squeezed really hard. Merlin and Arthur’s heads banged together. Bobby and Ella barked.

 

“Oops! Sorry!”

 

Merlin and Arthur rubbed their temples.

 

“I am Elena, by the way. What are your names so I can properly thank you for taking care of my babies?”

 

“Arthur.”

 

“Merlin.”

 

“Arthur, Merlin, thank you so much. Bobby and Ella just slipped away when I was trying to put this new dog basket into the boot of my car over there. It just wouldn’t fit! The boot of an Auris is the tiniest thing. It’s dreadfully small, really. All the while Bobby and Ella ran off in two different directions, the little rascals.” Elena kissed her dogs.

 

“Bobby got on the underground," Merlin stated.

Elena looked shocked.

 

“Ella was running around on the platform, alone, so I grabbed her, “Arthur explained.

 

“I thought I had lost them forever,” Elena sobbed, hugging her beloved dogs to her heart.

 

Merlin looked poignantly at Arthur and mouthed a _‘See?’_. Arthur just gazed at Merlin. Merlin really loved those lovely almond-shaped eyes. They were quite hypnotising.

 

Maybe Arthur was a shifter?

 

Elena’s “And you are a couple?” finally registered in Merlin’s brain. He came back to reality and squeaked: “What? No! What? No. What?” Merlin looked anywhere but at Arthur.

 

Arthur elbowed Merlin. “I think we could be _mates_ ,” he said meaningfully, emphasising the word ‘mates’.

 

Merlin gawked at Arthur and needed no more affirmation. Arthur _was_ into him. He was consequently rendered speechless by Arthur’s: “Would you like to be my _mate_?”

 

The double entendre was not lost on Merlin, but Elena seemed confused.

 

“Well, you guys, couple or no, I, or, wait, are you Australians? Well, never mind, I would like to thank you somehow. Can I buy you guys coffee or lunch maybe?” Elena looked from Arthur to Merlin and back again.

 

“No, thank you, Elena, I am in a hurry to get home actually,” Arthur said and motioned Merlin to grab the other end of the huge dog basket.

 

Why was Arthur in such a hurry to get home now, Merlin wondered darkly. Maybe lawyers had busy schedules every day of the week, despite what Arthur had said earlier? Merlin felt disappointment descend on him, and the basket was heavy, too!

 

“This could fit a whole litter, Elena.” Merlin gasped, and they began carrying it toward Elena’s Auris. All the while, Arthur was eyeing Merlin intently, using the force of his lovely eyes to communicate how much he wanted to go somewhere private with Merlin. Merlin knew he was blushing like a bleeding virgin in heat. OK, so, maybe Merlin understood why Arthur was in a hurry.

 

“Wanna come over for a cuppa, dear fellow dog rescuer? I live just there, across the street in those terraced houses,” Arthur whispered over the dog basket, to drive the point home.

 

“Room for a dog…” Merlin said, gazing into a lovely future, complete with West Highland White Terriers, terraced houses with gardens, gorgeous blond husbands who were lawyers and had eyes to die for.

 

“Is that a yes?”

 

Merlin, who was backing up, bumped into Elena’s car and they waited for Elena to open the hatchback.

 

“We have to fold the seats forward, Elena. This won’t fit in there otherwise.” Arthur said and he and Merlin put the basket on the floor, thankfully, and made more room in Elena’s car for it. Finally, they managed to fit it in.

 

Bobby tugged at Merlin’s trouser leg.  

“What is it, little rascal?” Merlin asked, crouching down to the dog, to give him a little cuddle.

 

“I think he wants a thankyou, Merlin,” Arthur said.

 

“A thankyou?”

 

Arthur nodded.

 

“Aah, for bringing us together,” Merlin concluded with a smile.

 

“Yes. So, _mate_ , cuppa? Over the road?” Arthur asked.

 

“Only if we get visitation rights," Merlin said, looking at the cute little dogs.

 

“I’m a lawyer, Merlin, I think I can wing that.”

 

EPILOGUE

 

_They were finally together. His mate was rolling around on the forest floor with their little pup, growling and nipping at him affectionately, teaching him to play without injuring himself or others. There was so much to learn, so much they had yet to teach their offspring. Pete knew Eric was the most perfect man for the job._

 

“Are you still up, babe?”

 

“Someone had to clear up the mess.”

 

“It’s still a mess, Merlin. Why is my sock on the lampshade?”

 

“Wemighthaveplayedalittlemeandthepuppies”

 

“Merlin, it’s night-time, they should be asleep, and so should you. I thought you had that writer’s conference to get to early tomorrow?”

 

“They just fell asleep, and I am just going to finish this chapter, alright?”

 

“You know what, I think I am going to _shift_ your arse myself, this time!”

 

Their two westie puppies woke up and started barking at a laughing Arthur carrying a shrieking Merlin into the bedroom.

“You are such an alpha, Arthur!”

 

“You wouldn’t have it any other way, would you?”

 

“No, I am good.”

 

 

                        

 

THE VERY FLUFFY END


End file.
